RVC Professor Supporting International Atomic Energy Agency

A Royal Veterinary College (RVC) professor joined an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) panel in Vienna to work on fresh policy for the use of radiation in veterinary medicine.

Renate Weller, Professor in Comparative Imaging and Biomechanics, joined other veterinary experts, radiation safety specialists (including medical physicists and doctors) and representatives from EU and US regulatory bodies.

The global experts in these fields worked with representatives of IAEA, which is an agency of the United Nations (UN), to develop fresh policy and safety guidelines. The IAEA is responsible for all aspects of radiation use, including nuclear weapons, power and medical applications.

Professor Weller has advocated within the panel that non-human animals should get the same benefits from medical applications of radiation as human patients.

Following the panel’s discussions, a ‘Safety Report on the use of radiation in veterinary medicine’ will be produced. There is already one for human medicine. These safety reports are used by the UN member states as guidelines for their own legislation. The report is written to be issued by regulatory bodies, radiation officers, people who build and run facilities that use radiation, and people performing such procedures.

Commenting on her participation in the panel, Professor Weller said: “This is exciting work, it is not every day that one has the opportunity to contribute to a document that will form the basis of how the use of radiation in veterinary medicine is going to be handled all over the world.”

Professor Renate Weller (far left) at the United Nations Office in Vienna